klwilliams

Or, to be proper, farewell, G'Quon, which was the Narn spelling of his name. He was named that because his shell looked like a Narn head.

G'Kwan had become too mean in the last couple of years. He spent most of his time hiding in wait for Dymphna. The moment she'd appear he'd be on her (literally). She would do the turtle equivalent of screaming and running when she saw him. This summer she spent mostly hiding out herself.

I was talking to a technician at my vet this week, and I had a brainstorm. I go to that vet because they treat turtles, and everyone there I've taken the turtles to has known how to handle them, without scaring the turtles or doing anything difficult (for them) at all. I told the tech about G'Kwan and that I'd like a new home for him, and why. She put up a notice internally, and within an hour I got a call from another technician who already has a tortoise and would like another one.

I just took G'Kwan to her, and I like her quite a bit. She seems to know her turtles and tortoises. I told her what little there is to know about taking care of him, and she got all of it. I gave her the spare water dish, since it's the right size for him to relax in. I think she and G'Kwan and her other tortoise are going to get along just fine. Dymphna may start relaxing and getting out and about soon, too.

I can't seem to see the screen very well. It's all gone blurry.

Poor Dymphna does in fact run away whenever she sees G'Kwan, who sits in wait of any sight of her. He at least has started fighting the turtle he sees reflected in the reflective surface of the garbage can instead of fighting her, but I think the damage is done. She wants nothing to do with him, and I don't blame her.



He's biting at her head so that she will open the back of her shell. For obvious reasons.

When I went into the bathroom this morning to take my shower, G'Kwan was in there in front of the garbage can. Our garbage cans are metal, and have mirrored surfaces. Male turtles, before they mate, fight with other males, and the winner gets to mate with the female. You see where this is going.

During my shower, I heard repeated thumps. When I was drying myself afterwards, I was treated to a show of male turtle fighting behavior. Other times I've seen him rush the garbage can and strike is with the front of his shell, his head tucked back in for safety, but today he was rushing the other turtle and striking with his closed beak. (Turtles don't have mouths per se, or lips.) I guess it must be working, because he kept on doing that until I got out of the shower. He then wanted out of the room, just like the boys (the boy cats), so I let him out.

An interesting thing about this bitter fight is that, except from the shell thumping, it's entirely silent. When Mac or Barry attacks a mousie, they don't growl or hiss, I suspect because for smaller prey they don't need to scare them and they don't want to alert them. Afterwards, though, from Mac at least, there is victory warbling. The turtles may hiss when we step too near them, but G'Kwan never makes a noise when he's fighting.

Another thing turtles do before they fight is release any extra weight they may be carrying, so I had a quick cleanup of discarded liquids on the floor.

Right now G'Kwan is perched alertly under the sideboard in living room, right next to the door into the kitchen. I'm sure he's waiting for Dymphna to come get her lunch.

It's been hot here. You'd think someone who wore a fur coat would look for shade.

I am at work. Chaz is...

at our house.
with our boys.

I like the sound of that.

The boys are very happy to have him here, too. They're still affectionate with me, too, even more so than before. Barry even sat in my lap last night for a few minutes. I strongly suspect that they have translated "Chaz is here" into "we will get two breakfasts and two teas", but if so they will be sadly disappointed.

I'm not sure if G'Kwan and Dymphna have registered his arrival.

The rock, however, didn't move, so Mac jumped out and went away.

When I got up this morning I found Dymphna on the stair down from the kitchen into the laundry room. Lying on her back. She'd been there a while, as she'd peed while she was lying there. I got her picked up, and she spent the rest of the day wandering around the house, keeping an eye on me as I picked things up and tidied. Then while I was putting clean sheets on the bed, I felt my foot hit a solid object just under the bed, and she squealed. Poor Dymphna. I don't know where she's gotten to now, either.

When I came home from work today I opened my front door, which opens onto the living room. I heard a thump, and a scrape, as I pushed open the door. I was confused, because I didn't leave anything in front of the door when I left this morning, and no one else is staying here right now. I opened the door just wide enough to squeeze through, and sure enough, there was Dymphna, lying on her side, leaning against the open door. She appeared to be fine, and in fact after her initial hide came out again to wander around. Right now she's sitting on the heating vent. (It's gotten colder here.)

Apparently, if you are a turtle (named G'Kwan) it is necessary to pee all over the floor before fighting yourself in the reflection on the garbage can.

(I think he didn't pee so much as release his reserve bladder, which turtles do as part of their fight/flight response to make them lighter.)

It's a lot warmer these days, so I've been keeping the door between my kitchen and laundry room open. (The laundry room and back bedroom aren't heated.) There are two stairs heading down into the laundry room, so I figured the turtles would be smart enough to avoid them. Nope. I went in there to put a load in the machine, and who was there, trying to hide behind some tools? (Come on. You didn't think it would be G'Kwan.)

It gave me a chance to pick her up, give her a bath to get rid of the rest of the mud, and check her out. No sign of eggs, so if she had them before, she's laid them. I wondered why she was still wandering around so much, and it occurred to me that she must be extra hungry, so I checked their food dish. Empty. I put out some more food, cabbage this time. We'll see what she does next.